Since polymers of acetylene derivatives exhibit electric conductivity and a non-linear optical effect owing to the presence of x-electron conjugated system in the molecule, they are widely studied as electrical functional materials and optical functional materials.
A well known process previously used for producing polyacetylene is a method of polymerization using a catalyst called the Shirakawa method.
On the other hand, when an amphipatic acetylene derivative having both a hydrophilic group and a hydrophobic group is used, a monomolecular film of the acetylene derivative, which is an ultra-thin film having a thickness of angstrom order, can be formed by use of the Langmuir-Blodgett method (hereinafter referred to as LB method) and further a built-up film can also be formed. Accordingly, active studies are being made on polyacetylenes using the LB method.
Further, when an acetylene derivative having a chlorosilane group at the terminal of its straight hydrocarbon chain is used, a monomolecular film of the acetylene derivative, which is an ultra-thin film having a thickness of angstrom order, can be formed by means of a liquid-phase chemical adsorption and further a built-in film can also be formed.
However, when the amphipatic acetylene derivative having a hydrophilic group and a hydrophobic group is simply spreaded over a water surface, referring to FIG. 24, the direction of the acetylene group 101 in the straight chain hydrocarbon molecules forming the monomolecular film 100 varies from molecule to molecule. Resultantly, in the succeeding polymerization effected by irradiation of an energy beam, since the direction of the conjugated double bonds formed by said polymerization is governed by the direction of the acetylene group, there is scarcely no chance for a polyacetylene 102 having a long sequence of conjugated double bonds extending in one direction to be formed, nor any method has yet been found to solve such a problem.
Similarly, in forming polyacetylene by chemical adsorption, referring to FIG. 25, when a monomolecular film of an acetylene derivative is simply formed on a substrate 200 by chemical adsorption, the direction of the acetylene group 202 in the straight chain hydrocarbon molecule forming the monomolecular film 201 varies from molecule to molecule. Resultantly, in the succeeding polymerization effected by irradiation of an energy beam, since the direction of the conjugated double bonds formed by said polymerization is governed by the direction of the acetylene group, there is scarcely no chance for a polyacetylene having a long sequence of conjugated double bonds extending in one direction to be formed, nor any method has yet been found to solve such a problem.